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Design 1047 battlecruiser
The Design 1047 battlecruiser, also known as Project 1047 battlecrusier, was a series of plans for a class of Dutch battlecruisers prior to the Second World War. The ships were intended to counter a perceived threat posed by Empire of Japan aggression to the Dutch colonies in the Dutch East Indies. Dutch intelligence believed that the Imperial Japanese Navy would deploy its capital ships (aircraft carriers, battlecruisers, and battleship) against their counterparts of the United States Navy and the British Royal Navy, leaving heavy cruisers and light cruisers along with large aircraft carriers, as the largest ships available for an advance into the Dutch East Indies. As such, the 1047s were shaped by the need to be able to fight their way through a fleet composed of these ships and smaller destroyers. It was hoped that this capability would allow the battlecruisers to act as a fleet in being. Design 1047 battlecruiser is the first class of battlecrusiers of the Royal Netherlands Navy. After a recommendation from high-ranking Dutch naval officers that the Koninklijke Marine (Royal Netherlands Navy) be bolstered so any attacker would have to "use such a large part of his military potential that there would be an unacceptable weakening of his capabilities in other theaters", the Minister of Defense (Netherlands) ordered the Navy to prepare designs for a two or three-member class of battlecruisers. As they had not previously designed a modern capital ship, and the only information available on modern designs came from public literature and editions of Jane's Fighting Ships, the Dutch turned to Germany. This initially bore no results, as the two sides were unable to come to terms. During this time, a preliminary plan was drawn up without foreign assistance; completed on 11 July 1939, it was missing many of the post-First World War advances in warship technology. In particular, the armor protection was totally outmoded. Germany and the Netherlands were eventually able to reach an agreement where Germany would release plans and drawings based upon their ideas for a battlecruiser, in return for a guarantee that all needed equipment would be ordered from German firms. With their assistance (mainly through NV Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw), a rough design was formulated by February 1940. A visit to Italy prompted a rethink of the internal layout, which led to a set of drawings dated 19 April 1940. Three large battlecruisers were laid down in late 1940, launched in 1941-42, and all three were completed in early 1945, and commissioned in 1946. All three battlecruisers, along with a battlecruiser of the Ijsselmeer class battlecruiser, two Dutch fast battleships of the Utrecht class battleship based on the French Dunkerque class battleship, and two 29,000 tons aircraft battlecruisers of the Molucca class aircraft battlecruiser were transferred to the Dutch East Indies for the defense of the East Indies against the Imperial Japanese Navy with aids from the British Pacific Fleet of the Royal Navy. Background Design Preliminary designs Design studies Last design Armament Differences from the Scharnhorst class battlecrusier Category:Battlecruisers and cruisers of the Royal Netherlands Navy